A Day in the Life
by Lowrider
Summary: Turning back the clock on age is an impossibility, which means it's no big deal to Phineas and Ferb.  But what happens when an accident causes Phineas, Candace, and a bunch of their friends to swap ages for the day?  Hijinks and romance, of course!
1. Tomorrow Comes Today

Chapter One: Tomorrow Comes Today

Another idyllic summer morning presented itself to the Flynn-Fletcher family; the sun was shining, birds were singing to each other, clouds lazily drifted through the sky, and inside the garage on this picture-perfect day two grown adults stood looking frazzled and fatigued at an antique radio.

"I'm afraid we may be out of luck on this one, dear," Lawrence said dejectedly as he looked at the radio. It was large enough to be a piece of furniture, but clearly had seen better days. The wood finish was weathered and beaten, the fabric covering the speakers was frayed and torn in spots, and despite all the attempts at re-wiring Lawrence had done it simply would not turn on.

"Such a shame," Linda added with a sigh. "I'll bet back in its day this was quite a beautiful piece of work, too."

Lawrence shifted his gaze over to the small transistor radio sitting nearby that had provided them with music while they worked. "It just doesn't seem fair sometimes that grand old craftsmanship like this goes to rot while cheap, miniature radios like this one can practically work like new forever."

"We're antique sellers, honey, not miracle workers," Linda reminded him as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes you just can't turn back the clock on these things."

"I suppose you're right, but in this case I kind of wish we could at least swap their ages," Lawrence said as they started to head back into the house. "I'll bet if that radio were only as old as that transistor radio it'd still work smashingly well."

Lawrence didn't realize that his words had caught the attention of a short, red-haired boy and his green-haired stepbrother, who had been standing in the doorway for some time watching their parents work on the radio.

"Swap their ages, huh…" Phineas mused, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face. "Originally I was just gonna say we should fix the radio for them, Ferb, but I just got an even better idea. I know what we're gonna do today!"

* * *

Isabella stopped halfway up the driveway to check her watch. Sure enough, she was on time as usual for her daily visit to Phineas' house. The garage door was open and the boys were hard at work building something that resembled a double-sided tuba. Clearly this was worth her dropping her signature greeting.

"Hi Phineas," she said cheerily as she entered the garage.

"Oh, hey Isabella," Phineas replied in kind.

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Today we thought we'd build something to help mom & dad with their antique restoration. Sometimes they have trouble making older stuff work or look right, so we're gonna help them turn back the clock so to speak."

"That sounds pretty cool. How's it work?"

Phineas stepped back and began pointing around the machine to explain while Ferb continued welding. "The idea is that the machine will swap the ages of the two objects that get put onto these platforms. So if we put something five years old on one spot and something seventy years old on the other spot, they'll swap ages."

"I getcha. Then the older thing will act like it did when it was the younger age, and vice versa. Right?"

"Exactly! We're almost done with the construction; we're just waiting for Baljeet to come over to quadruple-check our calculations."

As if on cue, Baljeet entered the garage, his face buried in a notebook with a pencil behind one ear and a calculator in the front pocket of his overalls. "No need to wait, I did the checking on my way over. By the way, where is Perry?"

"Oh, mom's taking him to the pet spa for the day," Phineas replied. "She thought he was looking a little ragged lately, so a little R&R was in order."

Baljeet raised an eyebrow at the concept, "I did not know they made spas for platypuses. Or…platypi. Or…platypeople? Or…well, you know what I mean."

"So how's our math lookin'?"

"There are a few areas I am concerned with, but I can correct them on the fly once you are finished with construction."

At that, Ferb shut off his welding torch, pulled up his welding mask and gave Phineas a thumbs up.

"Looks like we're good to go," Phineas said, pressing a button that brought a computer screen to life. "It's all yours, Baljeet."

"By the way, I wanted to ask: this machine won't work on people, will it?"

"It shouldn't, but who'd want to swap their age with someone or something else anyway?"

"Fair enough. Now, let us see to these settings then…"

Isabella stood back and watched the work continue, though mostly she just watched Phineas as he talked with Baljeet. For a moment she thought she heard a banging sound coming from another part of the house, but she dismissed it as she lost herself in Phineas-centered daydreams.

* * *

Candace sat face down at the desk in her room after having banged her head on it a few times in frustration. Behind her was a sea of crumpled paper that Stacy and Jeremy were both sitting in, also puzzling as they looked at their respective notebooks.

"Maybe we could…" Stacy started to say, but then lost her train of thought.

"Or there's always-" Jeremy started to add.

"Nah, we can't do that." Candace said, cutting him off.

Stacy chewed on her pencil's eraser some. "What about…no, that won't work."

"Hmmm…" Jeremy said, still searching for an idea.

"This is hopeless," Candace said in disgust as she stood up from the desk. "Jenny's counting on us to bring something to help with her food drive downtown today, and we can't come up with anything worth taking!"

"I still don't get why we have to go all-out for this, Candace," Jeremy said. "I mean, Jenny'll probably just be happy if we bring anything with us."

"But I don't want to bring just anything. I kinda feel like we've been neglecting Jenny this summer so far, and I wanna make it up to her by bringing something special."

"For once, Candace does have a point," Stacy added. "We really should make this something that'll really help Jenny's cause-of-the-day out."

"I can't argue with logic like that," Jeremy said with a smile. "But if we're gonna do something we need to get cracking on it soon, and so far we haven't come up with a single good idea. Maybe if we asked your brothers-"

"Don't even finish that thought," Candace said sharply. "They're the last ones I want to involve in this. They'd probably turn it into some huge fiasco like a stadium full of tomato soup or something ridiculous like that."

"Would it really hurt to just ask them for an idea? I mean, they are the creative ones in your family after all," Stacy asked.

"Hey, I'm plenty creative as well," Candace retorted.

"Yeah, when it comes to coming up with plans to bust your brothers. Face it Candace, it's been a long time since you thought outside the box."

Candace sighed and flopped down onto her bed. "Please don't remind me."

Jeremy cocked an eyebrow at Candace's remark. "Remind you? Of what?"

Candace rolled enough to look back up at Jeremy. "Well…let's just say that Phineas wasn't the first Flynn to try to do something outlandish."

"Okay, you've got me hooked now," Jeremy said, turning a chair around to sit backwards on it. "What'd you do?"

Candace sighed deeply as she sat up on her bed. "Well, one night when I was…maybe ten I think? I overheard mom upset that she wouldn't have enough time to make dinner for everyone that night. So I got this idea in my head that I could do it for her. I decided to try and make something everyone would like: grilled cheese sandwiches. Which are, not coincidentally, my favorite."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Yeah, well, I kinda went overboard with the cheese. And I didn't exactly use what you'd call 'standard cooking methods' either…"

"Oh?"

"See, I wanted to make a really big grilled cheese sandwich, but I didn't know how to make all that cheese melt so I kinda…." Candace's voice trailed off into a mumble for the last few words.

"I didn't catch that last part," Jeremy said, leaning closer.

"Tell him, Candace, or I will," Stacy added impishly.

Candace sighed in exasperation and sat back up, "…I loaded the cheese into the clothes dryer."

Stacy and Jeremy both burst into raucous laughter at the thought of a young Candace throwing chunks of cheese into a dryer and then turning it on.

"Ha ha, laugh it up," Candace said, clearly annoyed. Her expression then turned downcast as she stared at her bed. "When mom got home she caught me in the laundry room and busted me big time. All I'd wanted to do was help her out, but I ended up getting punished for it. From that time on I promised myself I'd never step out of line again."

"I guess that explains why you keep trying to get your brothers in trouble," Jeremy said, regaining his composure. "But still, you had a neat idea and good intentions, just like your brothers. Why can't you just tap into some of that creativity again?"

"I'm not ten years old anymore, am I? I think I just lost my creativity somewhere along the way," Candace said as she fell back onto her bed again. "Phineas and Ferb don't know how good they have it. Being a teenager isn't all it's cracked up to be."

No sooner did Candace finish her thought when a low humming sound filled the house. She sat bolt upright and growled a bit, knowing exactly who was responsible. This time, for sure, she'd bust Phineas and Ferb just like she'd been busted years ago.

* * *

The Age Swapper, as it had now been dubbed, was fully operational and currently being prepared for its first test. Phineas, Ferb, and Baljeet hefted the antique radio onto one of the platforms while Isabella placed the transistor radio gently on the other one. All four of them put on sunglasses as Ferb hit the button to activate the machine. The two massive tubes on either side of the Age Swapper bathed their targets in yellow rings of energy. Moments later, the machine finished its process and the four kids took their shades off to inspect their handiwork.

The antique radio now shone with a perfectly polished wood finish, all the fabric was intact and, upon being plugged in by Ferb, immediately picked up a local radio station and played its music for all to hear. Meanwhile, the little transistor radio was looking much worse for the wear. Isabella went to pick it up, only for it to fall to pieces in her hands. Unbeknownst to her, the battery inside rolled across the floor a ways.

"It worked," Phineas exclaimed, giving Ferb and Baljeet a high-five. "Mom and dad are gonna love this!"

"You'd better believe it," Candace added as she, Stacy, and Jeremy entered the garage. "Not only are they gonna love it, but they'll love busting you for making…whatever the heck this thing is. And I'll love watching you get busted too!"

Candace then saw the antique radio and grinned even wider, "And you even involved one of their antiques? Oh this is too good. You guys have practically busted yourselves. Stacy, Jeremy, help me take this thing back upstairs. We'll keep it safe until mom & dad get back from the store this evening."

"Candace, be careful with that. Don't drop it, we just got it fixed after all," Phineas told her.

Throwing caution to the wind, as usual, Candace started trying to pick the radio up on her own only to stumble and tip it over. She fell backwards into Stacy and Jeremy, all three of them landing on the platform the radio had previously been on. The crashing of the radio on the floor startled Baljeet, who bumped into Phineas and Isabella. All three of them landed on the other platform. The crashing radio had caught the rolling battery and sent it flying through the air in a perfect arc towards the Age Swapper. It landed dead center on the activation button and, in moments, both platforms were bathed in the same yellow rings of energy as before. Ferb had to shield his eyes quickly as the machine fizzled, shook, and shorted out from being overloaded. Almost a minute later, the Age Swapper finally died down, smoke rising from it and arcs of electricity sparking all across it. Ferb rubbed his eyes as they came back into focus and went slack-jawed as he looked at his stepbrother and friends where they sat.

"Uhhh…what the heck happened," Phineas asked, rubbing his head as he stood up. "Hey Ferb, I thought you were taller than me. How'd you get…down…there?"

Phineas finally noticed that he stood a fair bit taller than Ferb now, and his voice had dropped by at least half an octave. On top of that, his clothes seemed to have changed as well from his orange and white striped t-shirt and shorts to an orange t-shirt with white rings around the neck and sleeves, cargo shorts and working boots.

"Well, Baljeet, I guess I have to take back what I said before about the Age Swapper not working on people."


	2. Trading Places

Chapter Two: Trading Places

Phineas paced the floor of the kitchen as he tried to figure out what to do next. To say this was not what he'd had planned for the day was a gross understatement. He'd wanted to restore a bunch of antiques for his parents. Instead now he, Baljeet, and Isabella had swapped ages with Candace, Jeremy, and Stacy. The latter three were now all playing in the backyard, apparently oblivious to what had just happened. Phineas' pacing was interrupted by Baljeet, who rejoined him in the kitchen after checking on the "kids" outside. Just like Phineas, he was now a teenaged version of himself, wearing a white buttoned shirt, navy blue slacks and black shoes. His voice had deepened some like Phineas', but still retained his distinctive Indian accent.

"Candace and the others are still playing in the back yard," he reported. "They seem to think we are sitters for them and do not seem to recall being teenagers at all."

Phineas shook his head. "How does that make any sense? We swapped ages, not brains."

Baljeet folded his arms as he pondered the question for a moment. "This is only a guess, but technically speaking it may be like a system restore of sorts."

"A system restore," Phineas repeated, trying to grasp Baljeet's meaning. It dawned on him only a moment later. "Of course, that's got to be it!"

"Got to be what?" a female voice added from around the corner. Phineas looked in its direction and suddenly, inexplicably, felt his heart rate rise sharply.

Isabella, now also a teenager, leaned against the doorway. Just like the boys, her outfit had morphed with her age. Her voice sounded more mature than id had before, but wasn't all that much deeper. She had on a purple turtleneck with white slacks and white sandals. Her hair, now even longer than it was before, was tied into a loose ponytail. On top of that, being a teenager her body had now developed curves in places it previously hadn't had any. Most normal teenage boys would have known the feeling of attraction Phineas was currently experiencing all too well, but for Phineas himself it was a completely alien experience. As he stood dumbstruck looking at Isabella, Baljeet took it upon himself to explain what he meant.

"Computers can set points to which they can be restored in case of major system issues. They are basically snapshots of how the computer was and acted at a certain point in time. When the computer does a system restore, it goes back to how it was at that point, but it only knows what it did and how it acted at that point in time.

"I hypothesize, then, that Candace, Stacy, and Jeremy have experienced something similar. They are, technically, ten years old now and as such only have the knowledge and memories of their ten-year old selves."

Isabella felt a bit skeptical about Baljeet's explanation, but for a lack of another more sensible explanation she decided to accept it. "I guess that makes sense. So how long will it take for us to get back to normal?"

Phineas finally snapped himself out of his daze and poked his head back into the garage, where Ferb was trying to make heads or tails out of what was left of the Age Swapper.

"The machine got pretty fried in the process," he said, biting his lower lip a bit. "We really didn't anticipate it swapping peoples' ages, let alone so many at once. Ferb's already put orders in for some replacement parts, and they should get here around lunchtime, but until then we're stuck like this."

The three of them jumped as they heard the three ten-year olds running back inside and upstairs.

"Hey, no running in the house," Phineas called after them, then suddenly realized what he'd just said. "Good grief, we really are teenagers now, aren't we?"

Isabella giggled at his shock. "It's not all that bad. I certainly see some perks to the situation."

Phineas' face turned tomato red as he saw Isabella eyeing him up and down, similar to the eyeful he'd gotten of her earlier. "Uh…yeah…I suppose so."

Isabella blinked. "Come again?"

"I mean, well…I guess I'm only just noticing it now…and by 'it' I mean you, of course, Isabella, but, uh…well, I realize that if I ever have to make my cute detector again I'll really have to make sure it compensates for your data. Not that I didn't have to before because, well, we saw what happened when I switched it back to normal but…"

While Phineas fumbled over words and continued to try to use technical babble to explain himself, his inference nonetheless came through loud and clear to Isabella.

"Phineas, are you trying to tell me you think I'm…pretty," she asked.

Phineas played and fumbled with his fingers, but managed a quick, almost imperceptible nod as he did his level best to avoid eye contact with her. As Isabella blushed heavily at Phineas' admission, Baljeet sighed to himself and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what the newly-turned 10-year olds were up to.

* * *

Candace laughed heartily as she rolled around on the floor, which was still covered with wadded up paper, holding her plush Ducky Momo. She pretended she and Ducky Momo were playing in the clouds, while Stacy was attempting to play dress up with the clothes in the closet. Jeremy was doing his best to not be utterly embarrassed hanging out in what was obviously a girl's bedroom. Jeremy and Stacy were dressed in smaller versions of their usual teenager clothes, while Candace was in a red t-shirt with white overalls, just as she always wore when she was ten.

"We're not gonna just hang out here all day, are we?" Jeremy complained.

"I dunno. Is there anything going on we could go do?" Stacy asked as she poked her head out of the closet. "Also, whoever this room belongs to is needs a better wardrobe. There's, like, twenty copies of the same outfit in here. Boring."

Candace started to give some thought to something the three of them could do together as she put Ducky Momo on the bed. As she wandered by the desk, she saw the flyer that she had earlier - while still a teenager - been banging her head into regarding the food drive.

"There's a food drive going on downtown today," she said, picking the flyer up. "Looks like they need a lot of food to help out the needy."

"Should we go get some cans and stuff," Jeremy asked.

Candace shook her head as she thought for a moment. "No, we should bring something everyone will enjoy. Something big. Something like…"

A light bulb went off in Candace's head as a brilliant idea struck her. She quickly rushed for the door to the room.

"Come on, you two, we've got work to do. I know what we're gonna do today!"

* * *

"I really gotta start waking up earlier," Buford said as he looked up at the teenaged versions of his friends. "You guys coulda waited for me before turnin' yourselves all hip and older."

Baljeet sighed in disgust at Buford's usual lack of understanding of the situation. "It is not our fault Candace picked the worst possible time to try and bust her brothers yet again."

"It woulda been pretty cool for me to be a teenager too. Woulda opened up a whole new level of bullying to me. Now I gotta just go hang out somewhere until you guys fix stuff."

"Why is that?"

"Bully Code Rule Number Twenty-Three: You can't bully someone bigger or older than you," Buford said as he made his way back out of the house. "Well, you can try, but it usually doesn't end well."

Baljeet sat down on the couch, stunned at the prospect of going a whole day without being bullied at all. After it sunk in, he smiled to himself. "Huh. Maybe this will not be so bad after all…"

"Don't get used to it, 'Jeet," Phineas told him flatly from the other end of the couch. "We're getting swapped back soon as Ferb's done fixing the Age Swapper."

"Isn't there anything we can do in the meantime," Isabella asked, folding her arms as she leaned against the wall nearby. "I don't know about you guys, but I've come to expect a bit more out of my summer days than just hanging around waiting for an invention to get fixed."

"Speak for yourself," Baljeet replied as he stretched out and put his arms behind his head. "I have already had enough excitement for today. I would prefer for us all to just kick back and relax until the Age Swapper is fixed. I mean, the last thing we need right now is-"

Baljeet was cut off by the sound of three ten-year old kids running down the stairs and towards the front door with Candace leading the way, a giant smile plastered on her face.

"Catch you guys later, we've got a sandwich to make," she called out as she, Stacy, and Jeremy ran out the front door.

"-people running off to do who-knows-what who-knows-where," Baljeet said, finishing his sentence and slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand. "That is precisely what we do not need right now."

"Candace, get back here now," Phineas called out after her. Either she didn't hear him or chose not to hear him, but the three were halfway down the street heading for downtown Danville. "Okay, I'm not gonna lie. This complicates things…slightly."

"And by that I take it you mean more than slightly," Isabella added.

"Yes. Yes I do."

"We cannot change back to our proper ages without Candace and her friends," Baljeet said, sounding a bit panicked now. "And we need to be done before your parents get home or else…"

"Yeah, this might be a little hard to explain to mom & dad," Phineas said, scratching his head. "We're going to have to divide and conquer here. Baljeet, you stay here and help Ferb out with the machine as much as you can. He'll especially need your help once he's got it fixed to make sure the calculations and programming are back in order."

Baljeet nodded and headed for the garage to see how Ferb was progressing on repairs while Phineas and Isabella headed to the street to pursue the kids.

"We could probably catch up to them easily on our bikes," Phineas said.

"Except our bikes are sized for ten-year olds," Isabella reminded him.

"Oh, heh. Right. Guess we're hoofing it, then."

"But where are they going? We don't even know that."

"Well they're headed for downtown, and if I remember last night's dinner table conversation, Candace's friend Jenny is helping with a food drive there today. She was gonna go there to help her out, but she didn't know what she was gonna bring yet."

"But she didn't run out with any food so…what's she up to?"

"Well she is my sister, no matter what she says or thinks, so that means she's probably got something in mind to help Jenny out. And it's gonna be something big."

"How can you be so sure?"

"If it were me, and I were still her age, that's what I'd do."

"That's good enough for me, let's move!"

The two took off for downtown Danville, with Phineas doing his best to focus on figuring out exactly what Candace would do instead of continuing to glance at the girl running next to him, who he was having an increasingly hard time not becoming completely entranced by.

* * *

"Yup, that's everything," Candace said into her cell phone. "And make sure it all comes to the Laundromat at the corner of East 9th and Povenmire. Huh? Aren't I a little young to be solving world hunger? Yes. Yes I am. 'Kay, bye!"

"What'd they say," Jeremy asked once Candace was off the phone.

"The ingredients should be here in a couple of hours. That'll give us some time to line up some help and get some lunch before we get started."

"Way ahead of you on finding help," Stacy added as she jogged back over to them. "I found a bunch of construction guys who're willing to help out on their lunch hour!"

"Wow, how'd you manage to convince them," Jeremy asked.

"I asked really nice, and when that failed I hit 'em with the anime eyes."

Stacy's face suddenly contorted a bit, her eyes growing huge with a ridiculous smile. Candace and Jeremy were mesmerized by the effect it had.

"Wow, that's creepy," Jeremy said. "And yet strangely I feel compelled to do whatever you want me to, Stacy."

"That is a dark talent you have, Stace," Candace told her. "I can only hope you only use such power for the good of mankind."

"Anyway, we should probably eat lunch early so we don't go hungry during the project," Stacy suggested, her face going back to normal. "Any suggestions?"

"How about a Slushy Dawg," Jeremy asked, hungrily eyeing the stand that was just down the street.

"Nah, Slushy Dawgs never get any better," Stacy said flatly. "Let's go to the park, maybe we can get some ice cream there."

Candace and Jeremy quickly cheered at the idea of ice cream for lunch and the three took off for the park, oblivious to the pair of teenagers who were now shadowing them from about a block away.

"The Laundromat," Isabella said, repeating the location Candace had mentioned. "Why there?"

Phineas mulled it over as they continued following the kids, walking now instead of running since they knew where they were going now. "It's pretty close to where the food drive is happening, but why wouldn't they just make whatever they're planning there?"

"She probably wants it to be a surprise."

"Good point. But still, why the Laundromat? It's not exactly the sort of place one thinks of in connection with food. Then again this is Candace we're talking about. She never does anything the easy way."

"I'm surprised you're having just a hard time figuring this out, Phineas. I mean, I would've guessed you'd have figured Candace's plan out already."

Phineas blushed yet again; it was a reaction that had quickly become commonplace for him since the age swap. "I'm, uh…a little distracted. I guess."

Isabella smiled to herself, remembering Phineas' earlier admission of finding her cute and bumped into him playfully. "Is that so?"

Phineas smirked as he lightly stumbled to one side. He quickly bumped back into her in retaliation, which in turn became a game of which of them could bump the other last. Finally reaching an intersection they couldn't cross due to traffic, Phineas stopped only for Isabella to grab his left arm and hug it tightly to her.

"Gotcha," she cried triumphantly. "I win!"

"Alright, so as the winner what do you claim for your prize," Phineas asked jokingly.

"Hmm…how about we walk the rest of the way to the park like this?"

Phineas was about to respond when an elderly person passing behind the two of them commented, "Sure is nice to see young folk gettin' together these days."

Isabella felt a wave of self-consciousness come over her at the comment. Her affection for Phineas was common knowledge to everyone except, of course, Phineas himself. She was certain he was feeling embarrassed as well, and she never wanted to force her feelings onto him.

"I'm sorry Phineas," she apologized as she let go of his arm. "I don't know what I was thinking. It's probably best if we don't do that."

Just as she was about to resign herself to her usual friend-zoned position, she felt Phineas put his arm around her shoulder. "How about this instead? It's not quite the same, but it'll be easier to walk together like this, don't you think?"

"Yes. Yes I do," Isabella said, suddenly finding herself on cloud nine as she leaned against him a bit more.

For his part, Phineas also felt fairly self-conscious about how they appeared to other people on the street, but he couldn't deny that having time alone with Isabella was turning out to be very enjoyable; even more now that they were walking so close to each other. He wondered if this was how Candace felt when she spent time with Jeremy on their dates.

"I guess I should apologize for how things turned out today," Phineas said after a few minutes, desperate to both break the silence and try to escape from the thoughts his mind was racing with.

"Why do you think that," Isabella asked, completely bewildered.

"It's just that I always intend for the things Ferb and I create to be helpful or fun for everyone. The Age Swapper was no different, but this time it's caused nothing but problems for everyone."

"I wouldn't say that at all."

"Oh?"

"Well, does it seem like Candace, Stacy, and Jeremy are having a bad day?"

"Well no, but-"

"And do I seem like I'm not enjoying myself?"

"No…"

"And does Baljeet…um, actually scratch that one."

"Yeah, Baljeet wouldn't admit to enjoying anything unless it was planned out at least two months in advance."

"Very true. But how about you, Phineas? Are you enjoying the day so far? You know, in spite of it not being what you'd intended."

"That's the funny thing," Phineas said as he squeezed Isabella's shoulder gently. "It seems to be getting steadily better and better."

Isabella blushed a bit and smiled at what she hoped Phineas was implying. "Then I'd say you have nothing to apologize for at all."

"I guess so. Thanks, Isabella."

Not realizing they had long since lost sight of Candace and her friends, the two simply enjoyed a leisurely walk to the park as they continued to chatter. For Isabella, it was something out of one of her many Phineas-centric daydreams; for Phineas, however, it was nothing short of astounding to him that he was only just now thinking about Isabella as anything other than one of his best friends. It was a thought that was becoming more and more appealing to him as the day wore on.

* * *

Baljeet took a moment to wipe the sweat from his forehead as he slaved away at the control console of the Age Swapper. He was feverishly trying to restore the programming and ensure the machine wouldn't overload while it was in the middle of swapping everyone's ages again. It wasn't helping that the garage was poorly ventilated and the day was turning out to be a particularly hot one. Ferb, unaffected by the heat, was doing some final checks on the wiring, but the machine was otherwise fully rebuilt.

"Someday I am going to have Phineas show me how he manages to code so much in so little time," Baljeet noted as he pored over hundreds of lines of code. "Of course, I would not have to be doing this if he simply had made a backup of the code, but then I suppose he did not anticipate needing one."

Ferb detected high levels of annoyance in Baljeet's voice and put down his tools for a moment as he pulled up a chair next to him. After a few moments, Baljeet sighed and took a break from coding to turn and face him.

"Look, I will admit that many of the adventures we have had this summer have, in hindsight, actually been enjoyable," he said while still not making eye contact with the young British boy, "but this one time I have to put my foot down. Not only could we all get in really big trouble for this incident, but I personally find absolutely nothing appealing about being fifteen years old. I am the same nerdy kid as before, just taller and with an even funnier-sounding voice."

"Well you never know," Ferb said coolly. "Just because you don't see anything special about yourself doesn't mean there aren't those who will."

"Right now the only thing special I see about myself is that as a fifteen-year old I sweat a lot more," Baljeet said, standing up and tugging at his collar. "I need to cool off some or I am going to melt and go down your garage's drain."

"I believe the water hose is still hooked up in the backyard," Ferb told him as he took over the console. "Help yourself."

Baljeet quickly found the hose out back and, after removing his sweat-soaked shirt, proceeded to douse himself with cold water. As he enjoyed the sensation of cold water, he couldn't help but hear the gate to the backyard open. He looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of Isabella's Fireside Girls troop enter the yard.

"Oh, hello girls," he said, turning to face them. "If you are looking for Isabella, she is out at the moment."

"Uh, thanks," Adyson said, cocking an eyebrow at him. "By the way, who are you?"

"Oh, right. You were not here this morning for the incident with the Age Swapper," Baljeet said, mentally slapping himself. "It is me, Baljeet. There was an accident with Phineas and Ferb's invention this morning and as a result, I am now five years older."

Adyson blinked several times, as did the other girls. "Baljeet."

"Yes, that is my name."

"And this is what you'll look like in five years," Gretchen asked.

Baljeet nodded at her. "Most likely, yes."

The assembled girls of Fireside Girls Troop 46231 took a good look at the older, somewhat more toned, and currently soaking wet Indian boy and simultaneously reached into their pockets, produced the "I Just Saw A Cute Boy" patch and affixed it to their sashes.

"Told you," Ginger said to the other girls as she smiled dreamily at Baljeet.

Noticing the reaction the girls had to him, Baljeet now mused that perhaps he had to re-think his previous stance about there not being anything good about his change in age. The future suddenly looked quite a bit brighter.


	3. Carpe Diem

Chapter Three: Carpe Diem

Jeremy couldn't decide what he was enjoying more: his double-scoop cone of rocky road ice cream, or the free rock concert being held in the park that they had discovered. The music was maybe a little old, but the lead guitarist was really rocking out. It was certainly inspiring to him.

"I definitely wanna learn to play guitar," Jeremy said as he ate some more ice cream. "Maybe I'll even have a band of my own someday!"

"Right, and I'll be President of Uruguay," Stacey said sarcastically.

"I think it'd be pretty cool," Candace told him, disregarding her best friend's comment. "Anything's possible if you put your mind to it. Just like with our plan today."

"Are you sure this is gonna work, Candace," Stacy asked. "I mean, this is a pretty big thing you're trying to do."

"That's why I have you guys along with me," Candace told her, taking Stacy's and Jeremy's hands in hers. "I couldn't do this without you guys. And together we're gonna make a lot of needy people really happy. I know we can do this!"

"You can count on us, Candace, I promise," Jeremy told her. "Shouldn't we get going, though?"

"Yeah, the stuff should be getting delivered soon," Candace noted, looking at her watch. "Besides, some of the music this band's playing is kinda boring."

Jeremy shrugged at her. "I kinda like it. I'll catch up with you two in a bit, I just wanna hear one more song."

Candace and Stacy headed off, leaving Jeremy behind to watch the band.

"Hey, I never thought about it before but Jeremy's kinda cute, you know," Candace said once they were well on their way.

"I guess," Stacy noted. "But he's no Billy Clark."

"Ahh, Billy Clark," they both sighed in unison.

"Hey, did I ever tell you that I decided what I'm gonna name my kids if I get married to Billy," Stacy spontaneously blurted. "Dylan and Emerald."

"Cool names," Candace noted. "I'm kinda partial to Fred, myself."

"Fred, Candace? Really? C'mon, you've gotta give your kids better names than that. Like Chad and Destiny, or Keith and Reba, or Xavier and Amanda."

"Hey, I kinda like those last two. Maybe I'll go with them. But I do still like Fred, too."

The two best friends continued to chatter away as they headed back for Downtown Danville, only just missing a teenaged pair who had just now arrived at the park and were still in search of them.

* * *

Phineas craned his neck as much as he could over the crowd as he scanned for Candace, Stacy, or Jeremy. On a normal day in the park it wouldn't have been an issue, but with Love Händel on hand doing a free mid-day concert it made trying to locate the three ten-year olds like finding a needle in a haystack the size of Danville.

"This is one time I wish I had Candace's freakishly long neck," he said rubbing a now sore spot on his own neck.

"We're never gonna find them this way," Isabella told him. "We should find some higher ground to survey the crowd from."

"Easier said than done," Phineas noted, looking around them. "This part of the park is pretty flat. There's not much higher ground around. Unless…"

Isabella could almost see and hear the gears turning in Phineas' head as his eyes fixed on something. She followed his gaze and couldn't see anything except for the stage the band was playing on.

"Wait, you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you," she asked, suddenly a bit concerned.

"All we have to do is sneak backstage and peek through the curtains," Phineas told her. "If we're careful, no one will even notice us."

"I guess, but how're we going to stay together in this crowd?"

Phineas quickly took her by the hand and flashed a somewhat bashful smile at her. "This'll do the trick. Um, if you don't mind that is."

"No! No, don't mind at all. Really," she sputtered back, overloading on her emotions again.

Hand in hand, the two began weaving their way through the crowd. On stage, the band had just started into the beginning chords of their signature song, "Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart." Danny took the microphone and looked out over the crowd with a wry smile on his face.

"I bet you're all wondering how we're gonna do our Flamin' Hot Spotlight of Love in the middle of the day," he said to the crowd. "Well, we can't."

Danny's announcement elicited a groan of disappointment from the crowd, which was exactly the reaction he was hoping for. "Which is why we're gonna do our Flamin' Hot Laser Show of Love instead! Hit it!"

On Danny's word, an array of red laser lights shone out over the crowd while he scanned over the fans for just who to focus them on. It didn't take him long to find the perfect couple and he muttered into another small microphone that was clipped to the collar of his shirt.

Phineas hit a wall of people he couldn't get past and had to stop dead in his tracks. Isabella crashed into his back and he felt them both stumble. He spun around and caught her as he braced himself to keep them both on their feet. As he caught her, suddenly the crowd around them all began to cheer at them.

"That's odd," he wondered out loud. "Why is everyone cheering at us?"

Isabella was similarly confused until she saw some kind of red light shining in their direction. She looked down and saw a giant heart being drawn on the ground around the two of them by the laser lights shining from the stage. She blushed heavily and motioned to Phineas to look at the ground around them as well. Upon seeing the heart around them, he suddenly felt incredibly conscious about the fact that he was still holding Isabella fairly close to him. As he stammered and stuttered trying to figure out how to resolve the situation, Danny's voice cut through the cheering.

"Well don't just stand there, man," he said, directed at Phineas. "Kiss her!"

For the first time ever, Phineas found himself in a full-on panic. With the crowd and the band egging them on there was no chance for explaining their way out of the situation. They could try sneaking or running away, but that might make things even worse. His mind raced to try and come up with something, anything to get them out of there; suddenly, he registered Isabella's hands gently touching his cheeks.

"Phineas…" she said his name quietly, dragging him from his thoughts into the moment. "You're always telling everyone to seize the day, right?"

"Yeah…" he replied with a nod. "Carpe diem."

"Then consider today seized."

Phineas had experienced dozens upon dozens of exhilarating moments that summer so far: riding his homemade roller coaster through Danville, travelling to outer space, travelling through time, singing in front of throngs of screaming fans, and more. All of those moments suddenly paled in comparison to the feeling of being kissed on the lips by Isabella. The only thing he could do in response was to pull her closer and try to kiss her in return as the assembled crowd roared their approval at them. For her part, Isabella tried to not break into tears as the full weight of the moment came crashing down onto her. The world could end in the next second and she wouldn't have cared in the slightest. She finally had Phineas. Nothing else mattered; especially not whatever project Candace and her friends were working on downtown at that very moment.

* * *

Candace, now wearing a hardhat, motioned the crane towards her, then a bit to her left. She squinted as she checked the alignment and then gave the driver the okay to lower his load. A giant piece of pig iron lowered onto massive electric burners that were already glowing red with heat. The iron made a loud clunking sound as it settled into position and, moments later, the heat emanating from the plate was visible.

"Alright, it's go time folks," Candace said into her walkie-talkie. "Butter team, commence buttering!"

Stacy, Jeremy, and several other kids stood just off the iron strapping shoes on that had massive pats of butter attached to their soles. Once done, they leapt onto the makeshift griddle and skated all over it, coating it in a fine layer of butter. As they finished their task, the crane moved back into position; this time hoisting a giant slice of wheat bread that it lowered carefully into place on the now buttered hot plate.

As the bread began to toast, Candace worked feverishly inside the nearby Laundromat loading every single dryer with cheese. She started all the machines and watched carefully as the cheese inside quickly melted. Once the cheese reached a satisfactory level of melting, she stopped the machines, grabbed a giant spoon, and began transferring gobs of cheese from the dryers onto a makeshift catapult she'd constructed from an ironing board and a laundry basket. Once full, she launched the catapult's load out the front door onto the toasting bread outside. After a few minutes, the dryers were empty and a layer of molten cheese sat atop the bread.

"Okay folks, now for the tricky part," she said into the walkie talkie again. "Bring in the second slice of bread! Flipping team, begin moving into position! Butter team, reload and get ready for your second run!"

As the kids strapped new pats of butter onto their shoes and the crane brought in the second slice of bread, a forklift made its way towards the griddle outfitted with a giant spatula attached to its forks. In a well-orchestrated manner, the second slice of bread went down, the forklift lifted the giant sandwich off of the griddle, the kids quickly did another butter skating run, and the forklift then flipped the sandwich over to toast the other side of the bread.

A few minutes later, the crane rolled back into position and hefted the finished sandwich onto a flatbed truck that sped off to the location of the food drive. Candace, Stacy, and Jeremy shared high-fives as the assembled crowd cheered at their success.

"A giant grilled cheese sandwich should help feed the needy pretty well, I'd think," Candace said proudly. "Let's finish cleaning up and head home; we can play in my tree house until mom gets home."

As she helped clean up, Candace couldn't help but think of her little brothers who were probably playing some baby game with the sitters at home. She'd have to tell them all about her amazing day and let them know that anything's possible; especially when you do it to help out someone else.

* * *

"You know, I'm thinking another Do-Nothing Day might be in order now," Phineas said as he looked up at the sky from under the tree in the park that he was sitting under. The concert had just let out and the crowd was dispersing.

"Another one, eh," Isabella asked, looking up at him. She was sitting back against him under the same tree.

"Yeah, but maybe just you and me this time."

"What about Ferb?"

"He'll understand. At least, I hope. I just think it might be nice for us to have some more time together. Just the two of us."

Isabella leaned over for a moment, looking behind Phineas quickly as if she were checking on something.

"What're you doing," Phineas asked, curious about her actions.

"Just making sure you hadn't spontaneously turned into a centaur or anything," she replied. "This is all just a little hard for me to believe. That it's actually happening."

"What's actually happening?"

Isabella sat up and turned to look Phineas in the eyes. "…my dream."

Phineas sat up as well, seeing that Isabella was being quite serious. "What is your dream? If you don't mind me asking."

Isabella took a deep breath and summoned every ounce of courage she had. It was now or never.

"You," she said simply. "You're my dream, Phineas. I've liked you for longer than I can remember, almost since we met when we were little. And I don't just mean liked as friends. I know you haven't thought of me that way, so I settled for what little bits of affection you'd show me here and there. I told myself to just be patient and maybe…just maybe, someday you'd feel something more for me. I thought it'd take years if it ever happened. I didn't expect it might still happen this summer. That is, if what happened during the concert is what I think it was…what I hope it was."

"Isabella, I…I don't know what to say," Phineas said, stunned at her revelation. "I wish I could tell you, but…well I'm not so great with words when it comes to stuff like this."

"It's okay, I know it's sudden. You don't have to answer me now."

"No, you don't understand," Phineas quickly sat on his knees and moved closer to her. "I'm not good with words, so I'm gonna take a page out of Ferb's book and let my actions speak for me."

If their first kiss had felt like it happened in a dream to Isabella, this second one was the equivalent of a hard pinch to prove to her she was awake. She moved to get up to her knees to be closer to him and ended up pushing him back onto his back. She crawled up over him, looking down at him as he looked back up at her.

"See boys, I keep tellin' ya," a familiar voice said loudly from a ways away. Phineas and Isabella both looked over and saw Danny, Bobbi Fabulous, and Swampy all walking up towards them. All of them were in their street clothes, but Danny also had an acoustic guitar slung across his back. He folded his arms as he approached the two, who quickly sat back up blushing heavily. "Music does change peoples' lives. Especially their love lives."

"Yeah, and now we're disrupting theirs," Bobbi commented with an exasperated sigh. "Smooth one, Danny."

"Oops. Heh, guess so. Sorry kids. Can I make it up to you somehow?"

"It's cool, guys," Phineas told them. "We needed to get going anyway."

"Yeah, we may be moving too fast anyway," Isabella added. "We should both have a little more patience."

"Patience, huh," Danny repeated, bringing his guitar around. "Y'know a famous band did a song about that quality once. It's a little old now, but you might still like it anyway."

Phineas looked at Isabella, who smiled and shrugged at him. "I guess we could hang around for a special exclusive concert," he said, sitting back down with her.

"We'll let you handle this one, Danny," Swampy told him. "C'mon, Bobbi, you owe me a sandwich."

"Could we at least make it a salad," Bobbi complained back at him. "You really need to trim down a bit."

Danny laughed as the two continued to bicker as they wandered off. He sat down on a nearby park bench, strummed his guitar a couple of times to make sure it was in tune, and began to play for the young couple.

"_Shed a tear 'cause I'm missing you  
I'm still alright to smile  
Girl, I think about you every day now  
Was a time when I wasn't sure  
But you set my mind at ease  
There is no doubt you're in my heart now  
Said woman take it slow  
It'll work itself out fine  
All we need is just a little patience  
Said sugar make it slow  
And we'll come together fine  
All we need is just a little patience."_

As Danny played a short bridge between the verses, Phineas felt Isabella's hand seek his out. He took her hand in his and moved closer to her as Danny went into the next verse of the song.

"_Sit here on the stairs  
'Cause I'd rather be alone  
If I can't have you right now, I'll wait dear  
Sometimes, I get so tense  
But I can't speed up the time  
But you know, love, there's one more thing to consider  
Said woman take it slow  
Things will be just fine  
You and I'll just use a little patience  
Said sugar take the time  
'Cause the lights are shining bright  
You and I've got what it takes to make it  
We won't fake it, Oh never break it  
'Cause I can't take it."_

"Pretty cool song," Phineas said to Isabella quietly.

"Yeah," she replied, tears stinging her eyes a bit. "It's kinda perfect."

Danny's playing and singing continued, building up to the song's finale.

"_I've been walking these streets at night  
Just trying to get it right  
It's hard to see with so many around  
You know I don't like being stuck in a crowd  
And the streets don't change but maybe the name  
I ain't got time for the game  
'Cause I need you  
Yeah, yeah well I need you  
Oh, I need you  
Whoa, I need you  
Ooh, this ti-me..."_

The audience of two applauded Danny's performance as he finished the song. All three of them stood up, with Phineas and Isabella meeting Danny by the park bench.

"Thank you for the song," Isabella told him. "You were right, we did like it."

"I'm glad you did," Danny replied, "but I hope you got more out of it than just that it's a nice song. Patience is a virtue, but it can be a curse if you don't know when to stop being patient and start to act."

"Yeah, something tells me we understand that message pretty well now," Phineas said, smiling at Isabella.

"That's great. Well if you'll excuse me, I think I'll try to track down my buddies now. See if I can weasel a sandwich out of Bobbi as well."

"And we should really start heading for home now," Phineas said to Isabella, who nodded understandingly.

Danny bid them goodbye and started walking in the opposite direction as them. He stopped for a moment and looked at them again, suddenly filled with the feeling like he'd met them before somewhere. After watching them walk off hand in hand for a few moments, though, he simply smiled, shook the feeling off, and continued off in search of his friends and, hopefully, a late lunch.

* * *

(Author's Note: For you young'uns who have no idea what song that is, it's Patience by Guns 'n Roses. Go look it up, listen to it, and tell me it's not the perfect song for this couple.)


	4. The Dream Deferred

Chapter Four: The Dream Deferred

Jenny gulped down some more cold water as she sat resting. She had finally been forced to take a break from her duties at the food drive, but she didn't want to relax too much or for too long. This, like all of her other causes, was something she was passionate about and the wanted to give everything she could for its sake. She only wished her friends would share her enthusiasm for once.

She sighed and looked up and down the street. 'Still no sign of any of them,' she thought to herself. 'I guess I shouldn't be surprised. They probably found something more interesting or fun to do than this. I kinda hoped they'd be here for me this time, though. I know this kind of stuff isn't typical summertime fun for teenagers, but it's fun for me nonetheless. And it's important too. I just wish I could get them to understand that for once.'

Just then, the sound of a truck's horn blared from down the street. Jenny looked in its direction and had to rub her eyes to make sure the heat wasn't making her see things. There, turning the corner, was a flatbed truck hauling what looked like a giant grilled cheese sandwich as its payload. She got up and ran to the truck as it came to a stop.

"Wh-what is this," she asked, still in shock.

"Special donation delivery," the driver said as he stepped down from the cab. "Buncha folks got together downtown to make this and send it over. They all signed this card to send over with it."

Jenny took the larger-than-normal card from the trucker and opened it. Out of all the names scribbled inside, only three were recognizable to her.

"Candace, Stacy, and Jeremy…did this? For me?"

The assembled volunteers for the drive all cheered as the sandwich got offloaded. All Jenny could do, though, was shed tears of joy at the gesture. Just when she thought she had her friends figured out, they went and proved her wrong.

* * *

Phineas couldn't escape the irony that just that morning the idea of walking hand-in-hand with a girl was completely alien to him and now here he was heading home hand-in-hand with Isabella.

"This has definitely been a day that didn't turn out how I thought it would to start," he said, shaking his head.

"You and me both," Isabella added, then squeezing his hand a little. "But that's not a bad thing, is it?"

"You kidding? I can't imagine today going any better at this point. Apart from my realizing that you've been trying to get my attention all summer long, that is."

"Phineas, it's okay. Really. I don't hold it against you."

"Well I do; especially when we were in Paris. Man do I feel horrible about that now that I think about it."

Isabella stopped walking and took both of Phineas' hands into hers. "I admit when that happened I was pretty devastated, but I realized something a little later that day. It was when you were about to give up on making it home. I realized that the Phineas Flynn I fell in love with – the one I've dreamed of having for my boyfriend for so long - wasn't the one who'd drop everything just to devote himself to me. It was the one who never let anything stop him from achieving his dreams, no matter how outlandish or improbable those dreams might be to others."

"Really?" Phineas asked the question with a sense of disbelief.

Isabella nodded to him with a smile. "Now that said, I still wouldn't mind it if you took some time away from your inventions and aspirations from time to time to go to a movie or walk in the park or something. I know that might be a little mundane for you, but I'm old-fashioned like that."

Phineas smiled back at her. "I think that can be arranged."

"Without Ferb," she added without missing a beat.

He chuckled a little at the idea. "Yeah, without Ferb. Like I said before, I'm sure he'll understand."

"I'll look forward to it, then," Isabella said, stepping close to kiss him for now the fifth time since their first kiss at the concert.

A short while later, they arrived back home and were greeted by Baljeet and Ferb, who had long since finished repairing the Age Swapper.

"We have been waiting for you," Baljeet told them as they approached. "Candace and her friends returned some time ago. They are in her tree house, though they are a bit confused as to how it changed from what they remember it being."

"Oh, heh, yeah I guess that would be a bit weird for them," Phineas noted, remembering when he and Ferb remodeled the once-dilapidated tree house.

"Where have you two been, then" Baljeet asked curiously.

"Just having an incredibly memorable day," Isabella told him. "One I don't think I'll ever forget."

"Me either," Phineas added.

"Funny you should say that, because actually, you will," Baljeet told them directly.

"What're you talking about, 'Jeet," Phineas asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

Baljeet sighed and folded his arms. "You do remember the explanation I gave this morning about why Candace and her friends do not remember being teenagers, correct?"

"Yeah, you said it was like a system restore for them," Isabella said, repeating his own words.

"Well, when we switch our ages back it will have the opposite effects on everyone," Baljeet told her. "Candace and her friends will remember the events of today, but as things they think they did when they were actually ten years old. We, on the other hand, will have no recollection of today's activities."

"What?" both Phineas and Isabella exclaimed.

"That can't be right," Phineas said in disbelief.

"Phineas, think for a moment," Baljeet told him, stepping over closer to him. "We are not actually fifteen years old. We are ten. Technically speaking, this day will not have happened for us yet. Not for another five years. How are we supposed to remember something that hasn't actually happened yet? Reverting ourselves back to being ten will be another system restore, but for us this time."

"There's gotta be another way to do this, then," Phineas said resolutely. "Some way we can still remember this day and change back to our real ages. It's just not fair otherwise!"

"Phineas, be reasonable," Baljeet told him, now showing signs of frustration. "Even if there were another way, we do not have the time or resources to figure it out. Your mother and father will be home in an hour and we used all the replacement parts fixing the Age Swapper. There is not enough time to reconfigure it yet again. I am sorry, Phineas, but there is no alternative."

Isabella bit her lower lip as she came to terms with the reality of the situation, but just as she reached for Phineas' hand he jerked away from her.

"No," Phineas said bitterly. "I can't accept this. I won't! Not after…"

Phineas looked at Isabella, a hint of hopelessness in his eyes that she immediately recognized from when they thought they were stranded on that island.

"I don't want to forget today," he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Not now, not ever!" He took off running from the house, ignoring the calls from Baljeet and Isabella to stop.

"Baljeet, make sure Candace and her friends stay entertained," Isabella told him quickly. She then looked to Ferb. "Ferb, keep the Age Swapper ready. I'll have Phineas back in time for his folks to get home."

"Isabella, wait," Baljeet said, stopping her before she took off. "Before you go, there is one thing Phineas did not let me explain. Listen carefully."

As soon as Baljeet's explanation was done, Isabella took off after Phineas, hoping she could keep up with him enough to catch him wherever he was planning to run.

* * *

Phineas sat on the edge of the river, fiddling with something in his hands as he stewed over what could be done. He was still convinced there had to be a way for them to remember the day after they used the Age Swapper again. He just had no idea what that way was, and time was running out.

"A quarter for your thoughts," Isabella asked as she made her way to the river's edge alongside him.

"I thought the saying was 'a penny for your thoughts'," he noted, looking up at her. He stuffed what he'd been working on into his pocket, hoping she hadn't seen it.

She smiled down at him. "Your thoughts are worth way more than a penny; at least to me."

Phineas stood up and paced a bit away from her. "This is all wrong. I finally realized so much today and now I'm gonna forget it all happened? It's not fair."

"Aren't you being a bit selfish? I mean, you're not the only one who's going to-"

Phineas whirled around and cut her off mid-sentence. "I'm not talking about me, Isabella. I'm talking about you. This isn't fair to you."

Isabella was stunned into silence as Phineas continued.

"You've put up with so much from me and endured me being so ignorant of your feelings for so long. You've been patient far beyond what any normal person could endure! Now I've finally realized how you feel for me and how I feel about you, and tomorrow we're just gonna go back to how things were and never remember all this? I have no choice but to completely forget how much I care about you? Sure it's not fair to me but it's way more unfair to you. I can't accept it. I won't! I'll figure something out. We'll just stay like this until then. Mom and dad will just have to understand."

"Phineas, please stop and listen to me," Isabella said, pleading with him as she closed the distance between them. Phineas held off on continuing his rant as he listened intently to her. "You're right, it isn't fair. But neither is keeping us all stuck like this. Candace, Stacy, and Jeremy have their own lives they have to get back to, and I'm sure they wouldn't want to have to be ten years old all over again.

"As for us, I don't want to be fifteen for real yet. There's five years of stuff I still want to do; five years worth of incredible memories that I want to create. I know Baljeet feels the same, and deep down I'll bet you do too even if you won't admit it right now. Today has been the best day ever for me. You don't know how much it's meant to me to share my feelings with you and you really don't know how much it's meant to me for you to reciprocate it all. I will treasure this day forever…but I don't want to keep these memories if I won't get to have those five years of memories that I don't have yet. However unfair losing today may be, that's far more unfair; to me, to you, to everyone."

"I guess you have a point," Phineas conceded. "It still stinks that I'm just gonna go back to being totally ignorant of how you feel about me. And that I'm going to forget how I feel about you too."

"About that," Isabella continued, "you didn't let Baljeet finish. There's a chance the memory loss might not be permanent."

"How's that work?"

"He went into a lot of technical babble that I didn't get, but the gist of it is when we actually turn fifteen the memories of today may come back to us on their own."

Phineas stroked his chin for a moment in thought, and then realized the possibility. "I get it. It's not gonna erase today from our memories, it's just gonna put it into storage until we're actually this age again."

"But he said there's only a chance of it working out like that," Isabella reminded him. "We won't know for five years."

"I guess it'll have to do for now. Can you wait that long, Isabella?"

Isabella smiled warmly at him again. "I've waited this long for a day like this. Five more years won't be a thing."

Phineas nodded to her, and then fished into his pocket for something. "Listen, before we go back I want to give you something. A memento of…well, of a day we're not gonna remember for five years."

"Uh, okay…" Isabella said, uncertain of how that was going to actually work. Phineas opened his hand, letting a simple chain hang from his fingers. At the end was what looked like a hex nut with some kind of smoky-colored gem in it.

"I made this from some stuff I found lying around the riverbed here," he told her. "It's just a hex nut on a chain with a chunk of smoky quartz that I screwed into it. It's not much of a pendant, but I don't exactly have any money or time for something fancier."

Isabella took the makeshift pendant into her hands and held it close to her chest. "It's beautiful. And very much the sort of thing I'd expect from you, Phineas. I'll do my best to keep it safe."

"Guess we should get going, then, huh? How long until mom gets home?"

"At this point, I think we have about eleven minutes."

"Nothing like keeping it exciting right up to the end!"

The two took off for home once again, this time fully prepared to get everything set back to normal. Or at least, as normal as things typically were in Danville.

* * *

Ferb couldn't help but note that breakfast that morning was unusually quiet for once. It was the day after the Age Swapper incident, and he sat eating his cereal alongside Phineas, who looked to be lost in thought as he did the same. Silence from Phineas was certainly not unwelcome, but it was getting a bit unnerving. Ferb deduced that either Phineas had a particularly magnificent big idea he was still figuring out, or something was bothering him. Given the events of the last twenty-four hours, either was likely.

The swap back had gone like clockwork, though once again upon completion the Age Swapper had overloaded and completely shorted out. This time, however, Ferb made the executive decision to scrap the machine and destroy the blueprints completely. This was one invention that did not bear revisiting someday. After the swap, Candace and her friends had hurried off downtown to try and catch Jenny before the end of the food drive. Phineas, Isabella, and Baljeet spent the rest of the day in a bit of a daze, though. Just as predicted, none of them remembered what had gone on that day and Ferb thought it best to not tell them either. As Baljeet himself had suggested, time itself would tell if those memories were meant to be evoked once again.

"Morning guys," Candace said pleasantly as she arrived at the breakfast table. She sat across from them with her toast and juice. "What's the happs?"

"Morning sis," Phineas said, looking at her curiously. "You seem like you're in a good mood today."

"Yeah, well, I kinda remembered something from a long time back. Gave me the warm fuzzies."

"Anything worth sharing?"

"Just a thing I remembered from when I was younger, maybe like your guys' age? Anyway, it reminded me that I used to get crazy, big ideas like you, Phineas."

"That's interesting. So why don't you anymore?"

"I dunno, I guess I just grew out of it. You know, as you get older different stuff becomes more important to you and you don't have the time or interest in crazy stuff like the stunts you guys pull. There are perks to being a teenager, but it isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"I'll have to take your word for it there; on account of I haven't been a teenager yet."

Ferb had to stifle a laugh, almost making milk and cereal shoot out of his nose

"Anyway," Candace said, continuing her train of thought, "I guess what I'm getting to is remembering what I used to do is giving me a new appreciation for what you guys are trying to do with your summer. So I'm gonna try to lighten up on all the attempts to bust you guys. At least, so long as whatever you're doing doesn't look like it might get you both killed. Or horrendously embarrass me."

Phineas chuckled a bit. "Thanks for the heads up, sis. We'll keep it in mind."

"So, what's on the agenda for today," Candace asked. "If you don't mind my asking."

"Well that's just it," Phineas admitted. "I'm in a bit of a quandary. I have something in mind but…"

"But what?"

Phineas looked over at Ferb, who put down his spoon and listened intently to his brother. "It's not the sort of thing that'd involve both of us, Ferb. I could come up with something else, though, I guess."

"Phineas, just because we both want to make the most of summer doesn't mean we have to do something together every day," Ferb told him simply. "If there's something you'd like to do on your own today, you don't need my permission for it."

Phineas knuckle-bumped his brother with a smile. "Thanks, bro. Guess I'll get going, then."

"All well and good, but you still didn't answer my question," Candace told him. "What are you going to do today?"

"I guess that depends on what Isabella's doing today," Phineas replied as he headed for the door. "I'm gonna see if she wants to hang out or something. Later!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say Phineas did some growing up recently," Candace said with a smirk as she drank some of her juice.

Ferb smiled and shook his head as he went back to his cereal. "You have no idea."


	5. Epilogue: The Big One Five

Epilogue: The Big One Five

"Happy birthday dear Phineas! Happy birthday to you!"

The chorus of the birthday song ended with a round of applause from the assembled party guests. Phineas' birthday parties were always well-attended, but this year's crowd was particularly large due to his impending entry into high school. Everyone who was anyone at Danville High was on hand for the event.

Bashfully, Phineas took the stage and addressed the crowd of partiers. "I wanna thank everyone here for making this a fifteenth birthday party to be remembered. You guys are the greatest, and this has been the best birthday I've ever had. Well, at least the best one so far."

"You say that every year," Candace yelled back, smirking at her teenaged brother. "Now blow out your candles already!"

"I'd love to, Candace, but I don't see the cake yet," Phineas replied, a bit confused by the conspicuous lack of birthday cake.

Ferb stepped up to the stage, holding a cupcake in his hand with a single lit candle on it. "We've decided to do something different this year, Phineas. Your birthday candles are on cupcakes that we've hidden among the crowd. You'll have to hunt them all down to blow them out."

Phineas smiled back at his brother, putting his hands on his hips. "A birthday candle scavenger hunt, eh?"

Ferb nodded in response. "Remember, you're technically not fifteen until you blow them all out."

Eagerly accepting the challenge, Phineas blew out the candle on Ferb's cupcake and jumped off the stage as he began his hunt. He darted through the crowd as he sought his quarries out. His mother had one of them, as did his father, Candace, and Perry who chattered at Phineas as he blew out the candle on his cupcake. He continued through the crowd, finding cupcakes with Jeremy, Buford, and each of the members of Isabella's former troop of Fireside Girls. Nearing the stage again, he found yet another cupcake held by Baljeet, which he quickly extinguished as well.

"That's fourteen," he noted as he scanned the crowd again. "So where's the last one? I scoured the entire crowd."

"I believe the answer to your question is waiting for you on stage," Baljeet told him, pointing his thumb up towards the microphone. Isabella stood by the microphone, her arms behind her back as she tried her hardest to look innocent.

Phineas hopped back up onto the stage and approached her. "So Isabella, whatcha hidin'?"

"Cute," she remarked, smirking at him as she brought the last cupcake out from behind her back. "Happy birthday, Phineas."

"Thanks," Phineas replied, taking the cupcake from her. "This has really been one awesome day. I can't think of a better way to end it."

Phineas took a deep breath and quickly blew out the last candle. The moment it went out, his eyes went unfocused as an explosion of information took place in his head. The memories of that lost day with the Age Swapper flooded back to him. It happened in an instant, but in his mind Phineas re-lived that day in its entirety right up to when Ferb swapped their ages back. He shook his head, snapping out of the sudden reverie, and looked at Isabella again. He only now noticed that she was wearing the makeshift hex nut pendant he'd made for her that day.

"Surprise," she told him quietly. "Baljeet and I both remembered that day earlier this year on our birthdays, but we decided to keep it a secret to surprise you today."

"How'd you manage to keep that pendant for so long, though," Phineas asked curiously.

Isabella held the pendant up as she looked at it. "I always thought it looked interesting even though I couldn't figure out where I'd gotten it from. So I just held onto it with my other jewelry. I started wearing it after my fifteenth birthday when I remembered everything; I just tucked it under my blouse."

Phineas smiled and stepped a little close to her. "Well, I guess I was wrong before. Now I can't think of a better way to end a birthday."

"Hmmm…I can."

Without another word, and before Phineas could react, Isabella grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulled him close and kissed him fiercely on the lips in front of the entire party crowd. A chorus of whistles and cat calls rose up from the crowd as the pair kissed on stage for quite some time. Isabella finally broke it off and smiled back at Phineas, who now had a stupefied smile plastered on his face.

"So Phineas," she said inquisitively, "best birthday? Or best birthday ever?"

"Please stay on the line, your call is important to us and will be answered in the order it was received," was all Phineas could manage to say in response.

Isabella laughed and put an arm around him, helping him down off the stage and over to the rest of his family. It had now indeed turned out to be Phineas' best birthday ever; or at least, the best one so far. And they had many more still ahead of them to celebrate together.

_**The End.**_


End file.
